


Blood Brothers

by Eternal_Phantom



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: 104th is family, All the Titan-Shifters Hange could want, F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-28
Updated: 2014-02-14
Packaged: 2018-01-10 08:37:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1157493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eternal_Phantom/pseuds/Eternal_Phantom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>*post Chapter 52*</p>
<p>Everyone's feeling down after saving Eren from the Armored Titan. Jean's attempt to cheer everyone up changes everything. One Titan Shifter gave humanity hope. Imagine what seven can do.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Jean had never imagined the life of a soldier would be filled with this much gloom. Of course he had mostly imagined it from the perspective of the Military Police. (how could he have ever wanted to be one of them?). It wasn’t just the losses, even in his brief time with the Survey Corps he knew they were common. It was just...too much right now.

 

The betrayal of Reiner and Bertholdt hit them all hard. Whether Kris-Historia (had to remember that) was right about Ymir or just being naive remained to be seen. That people high ranking in their government was as big an enemy as the titans was new and shocking. The knowledge that Titans were once human was mind blowing and horrifying in more ways that he could count for everyone on the cottage. And for none more so than Connie, who had lost his entire family to the hideous transformation.

 

Unable to suppress a shudder, Jean nicked himself on the knife he had been peeling potatoes with. He cursed under his breath and quickly began to clean up the mess. He hadn’t understood Eren’s cleaning frenzy when they reached their new hideout, not until spending a few days under the same roof as Levi. _Can’t let this stain anything or that neat-freak will have my head._  He wrapped a bandage around his finger to prevent and further seeping when a memory triggered. One from back in his innocent days as a cadet in training.

 

“That...that’s it.”

 

Sure it wouldn’t solve all, okay _any_ , of their major problem, but it might make them all feel better. And at this point, he’d take it.

 

~

 

“The Blood Brother’s Oath?” Connie asked with his eyebrow raised. The 104th were gathered in the boy’s bedroom/barracks. Eren was looking slightly worse for wear, having only just finished with Hange’s experiments for the day. He still bore the red marking on his face from the connective tissue of his titan form and it shocked Jean how little a reaction they caused in him.

 

“It’s not really done a lot nowadays,” Jean explained. “The basic gist of it is that the two who want to become brothers - or sisters-” he added with a nod to Mikasa, Sasha, and Historia, “each cut their forefinger and press the bleeding wounds against each other. Their blood flows through each others and they’re considered siblings. There’s a bunch of different incantations to go with it, but the one I remember is ‘My blood. Your blood. Our blood.’ That’s the one...Marco and I used.” The memory caused a lump to form in Jean’s throat, which he quickly swallowed. “My point is, we’re a family. We have been for a long time. I just wanted to make it official.” Silence met his explanation, the squad looking at each other nervously. _Please work, we need this. Something to take start plugging the holes in all our hearts. Everyone’s just staring at me. I wish someone would say something. Marco, what should I do?_

 

Mikasa picked the knife Jean had brought with him and cut open her finger without hesitation. She passed the blade to Sasha, who seemed a bit more hesitant but still followed Mikasa’s lead. The knife was passed around with each member cutting their finger until it reached Eren.

 

“Are you sure about this?” Eren’s voice was shaking a little, “Are you sure you want a monster like me in your family.”

 

“What the fu-” Jean couldn’t stop the words from tumbling of of his mouth. This was Eren, the suicidal bastard of the 104th, Mr. Kill-Them-All himself. Why the hell did he suddenly sound so...broken?

 

“If it was Armin, would you care?” Mikasa asked in her quiet voice. “If Armin became a titan-shifter and you were human, would you still want him in your family?”

 

“Of course!” Eren exclaimed without hesitation. “How could you even ask-”

 

“And yet you ask it of us.”

 

“But that’s different, he’s Armin and I’m…”

 

“Eren, yes, we know your name.” Crap, how had he missed this. Historia’s problems, Connie’s problems. Jean had never considered Eren might be having problems too. _Why on Earth  did you think I was a good leader, Marco?_

 

Jean sighed and took the knife from Eren. He grabbed the smaller boy’s hand and cut his forefinger. “My blood. Your blood. Our blood.” Eren was now staring at him with wide eyes, tears gathering in the corners.

 

Mikasa turned to Armin and pressed her finger against his. “My blood. Your blood. Our blood.” They both intoned with smiles on their faces(barely perceptable on Mikasa) as Connie did the same with Historia. Everyone switched partners until everyone had done the Oath with everyone else. Eren had to re-cut his finger a few times, but the look of wonderment on his face each time someone pressed their finger against his never faded.

 

He wasn’t the only one. Tears were streaming down Historia’s face, the genuine smile on her face belying her joy. Sasha seemed calmer than she had recently, as if something had balanced within her. Connie looked at peace with himself for the first time since Ragako.. The highlight of the evening for Jean, though was when Armin sat down next to him.

 

“Marco was right. You are a good leader.”

  
He could almost see Marco nudging him in the ribs  _See, I told you Jean._

_I guess you did, buddy. Maybe you were even right._

~

 

_I can’t believe it Marco, it worked. Everyone seems happier since last night. I know things are only going to get worse from here on in, but maybe we just needed something to hold on to. And I think Sasha is the only one who has any real family left, my own non-withstanding._  No, Jean had about as much attachment to his parents as they did to him, which wasn’t very much. _Now we all have brothers and sisters to rely on_. The thought brought an unbidden smile to his lips.

 

“Something amusing?”

 

Jean jerked at the sound of Levi’s voice. The look in he corporal's eyes betrayed no judgement, but Jean still felt like scurrying under the bed. “No sir, just being thankful for what I have.”

 

Levi raised an eyebrow and Jean felt his nerves tense. “We’ll be doing some training since we don’t know how long we’ll be hiding here. Since our gas supply is limited we’ll be focusing more on hand to hand.” Levi had a challenging look in his eye now, as if daring Jean to question the ‘Useless’ skill. Which, as far as Jean was concerned, was patently ridiculous after what happened to Nick.  

 

“Will Eren be joining us, sir. I wouldn’t mind learning what he used in the fight against Reiner.” For a moment he had considered saying the _Armored Titan_ , it hurt a bit less. But while Ymir was in something of a gray area, Bertholt and Reiner had left no doubt of their true allegiances. Trying to keep the memory of their friends separate from the atrocities they’d committed would only hurt in the long run.

 

“If he is able.” They both glanced outside the window where Eren was sitting in his titan form, head held low. Hange was bouncing around, as if trying to think of something else.  

 

“It’s amazing what can become normal, sir.”

 

The corporal just gave him a brief nod and walked away.

 

~

 

_Be careful what you wish for, isn’t that what you used to tell me_ At first Jean had been thrilled to be paired with Mikasa for the hand to hand drill. Now his aching body was beginning to regret it. He had heard the rumors that Mikasa was a titan-shifter too, but didn’t believe them. If it _were_ true she would have transformed the moment Eren was in danger in either of his forms. Still, the girl was beastly strong and had no compunctions about inflicting pain on anyone who wasn’t Eren. And even that limitation didn’t stand if she thought it was for his own good.

 

Speaking of which, the final member of the 104th was heading towards the group. The marks on his face were bright red again, having faded the night before. But that wasn’t the most jarring part. That was reserved for the empty left sleeve fluttering behind him. Mikasa instantly lost interest in reintroducing Jean to his new friend, the ground, opting instead to examine her brother.

 

“What happened?” She asked in a voice that would seem emotionless to anyone who didn’t know her well.

 

“Hange kinda made a mistake when cutting me out of my titan form. No Mikasa!” He grabbed her arm when she went to kill the scientist. “It was an honest mistake and she apologized. It’ll grow back in a day or two anyway.”

 

“A day or two in which you can’t transform, which delays our finding of a way to seal Maria.” Levi pointed out, clearly annoyed. “Is she working on a way to speed up your regeneration, a way to access titan hardening ability, or is she gleefully examining your left arm?”

 

Eren’s silence was all the answer Levi needed “Watch for now, brat. Join in the training if your arm stops steaming.” The squad leader stalked off towards the excited scientist.

 

The Titan-Shifter plopped down on the grass, puff of regenerative steam rising from his missing arm.

 

“Does it hurt?” Historia asked, kneeling down besides him. Her hands twitched as if she wanted to bandage the injury, but knew how useless the action was.

 

“Yeah, but I’m used to it.” Eren smiled confidently. “Besides it’s only one limb. That bastard Reiner bit off all four.” Several people discretely scooted away from Mikasa. “I’ll probably be good to go later this evening,”

 

“You should wait till tomorrow at least.” Armin chided. “Remember Trost? You shifted when you were exhausted and ended up in a dream.”

 

“A ...dream” Sasha cocked her head, this was new information. What exactly had happened during the Battle of Trost was extremely classified. Those who had witnessed Eren emerging from the titan’s neck were ordered to keep silent about what the had seen on threat of treason. Rumors had spread that he’d joined the Surve Corps, but nothing else.

 

Everyone else had stopped their training and was listening in with ill-concealed curiosity. Armin noticed and shut his mouth quickly. He gave a quick glance to Eren who shrugged. He didn’t really care who knew things about him. Armin looked backed at the expectant faces and sighed, entering lecture mode.

 

“Shifting takes an enormous physical toll on Eren.” This part wasn’t new, they’d all seen the state he was in after shifting. “During the Battle of Trost he transformed for the first time after already having his arm and leg bitten off. He proceeded to fight on, killing over twenty titans, until his body was literally ripped to shreds. Only a few minutes after regaining consciousness, he was forced to shift again to protect us from a cannonball.”

 

“Wait, what cannonball?!” Connie exclaimed. Dimly they could remember a cannon going off in between the battles, but between all the other surprises that day it hadn’t seemed important.

 

“The Garrison tried to execute me for being an enemy of humanity. Armin and Mikasa were trying to protect me, so they were going to be executed too.” Eren explained, his tone flat, only raising slightly when he mentioned Armin and Mikasa being threatened as well.

 

“But you protected us!” Sasha protested, “If you hadn’t fought off the titans in front of HQ, we all would have died.”

 

“They didn’t care about that.” Mikasa said, quiet rage in her voice. “They didn’t see his actions or his humanity. All they saw was a titan,” Almost imperceptibly Eren winced, “One small enough they could do what the wanted to it.”

 

“And you really didn’t help matters when your first words upon waking up were ‘I’ll kill them all.’” Armin added dryly. There was some dry laughter at that. It was such an Eren thing to say, but but wasn’t too hard to imagine the reaction to those words.

 

“Then Pixis had him try to seal the gate almost immediately.” Armin continued. “Forcing the transformation at that point basically knocked him unconscious. And with his human mind unconscious, his titan form basically ran on instinct until he woke up.”

.

“-Which was why you didn’t remember anything.” Jean concluded, “Okay, _that_ makes me feel better. All this time I’ve been thinking it was a crapshoot whether you’d be in control each time you changed.”

 

Eren scowled. “I wouldn’t have been allowed to hurt you, even if I did lose control.”

 

“With something that big I don’t the ‘allow’ is the right…” Jean trailed off, his eyes narrowing. _A monster like me...All they saw was a titan…_ “They were going to kill you.” The words felt like poison on his tongue.

 

Eren merely shrugged. “They were going to kill me anyway. At least he Survey Corps gave me a chance.”

 

“And Armin wasn’t exaggerating for Annie’s sake when he said you were going to be executed because the expedition failed, even though you did nothing wrong?" Armin stared at the floor and Mikasa clenched her fists.

 

“That is BULLSHIT!” The blood rushed to Jean’s face.

 

“No it’s not, look at what Annie…”

 

“Annie hid the fact that she was a shifter, infiltrated the Military Police and purposely attacked other soldiers. You have been upfront with everything you knew and did everything you could to help. Annie, Bertholt, and Reiner are monsters because they chose to be monsters. You. Are. Human.”

 

Eren waved his steaming stump at Jean. “Does this look human?”

 

Jean opened his mouth to argue some more, but was cut off by Sasha hissing “Quiet”. She suddenly flopping over with one ear to the ground. “Something’s coming, something big.”

 

No one questioned Sasha’s abilities. “But they got all the titans from Ragako, didn’t they?” Historia whispered.

 

“They may have miscounted, or…” Or it happened to another village. Connie gulped and tried to get his breathing under control.

 

Mikasa stood “We need to…” Her words were cut short as a titan, a 15 meter like Eren, burst from the wooded area. It scrambled on all fours, moving far faster than a normal titan.

 

“Abnormal! Scatter!” Jean commanded. No gear, swords, horses (they were stabled), and Eren was out of to commission. This was probably the worst situation they could be in.

 

The 104th scattered in every direction except towards the incoming titan. In the distance they could see Levi and Hanji heading towards them at full tilt, Hanji still wearing her gear from Eren’s training session. If they could just hold out until..

 

A cry simultaneously dashed everyones hopes.

 

“Armin!” Eren shrieked, reversing his retreat and running towards the monster that was holding his oldest friend. His teeth shredded his thumb, but his body was just too worn to go through another change. Armin met his eyes one last time, before the titan shoved him in it’s mouth and swallowed.

 

Eren fell to his knees, _Not again. Not again. Notagainnotagainnotagain-_

 

The Abnormal changed it’s trajectory towards the one meal not running away. Before it could reach him, however, it let out a loud keening and burst in half, it’s viscera spreading across the field.

 

And rising from the shredded stomach was a figure about 10 meters tall with shoulder length blond hair.

 

 


	2. Sied ihr das essem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is officially AU after chapter 52, but may dance with the cannon story line as it develops.

 

_What happened?_ Armin’s head was spinning. He was severely disoriented, which could be deadly in a battle situation. His movements felt sluggish, as if he was controlling himself in a dream. _I remember the titan grabbed me, then nothing._  He heard Eren call his name from what sounded like a long ways away. He tried to call back, but his voice was completely drowned out by a titan’s roar. He swung his head around and noticed the crawling titan heading after him again. It wasn’t as big as he’d initially believed when it first burst through the trees, a tall 4 meter range instead of the 15 he’d thought it to be.

 

It lunged at him and he dodged to the side, blood rushing through his ears. No wonder it was crawling, it was missing it’s lower half, though the steam pouring of it showed the situation was temporary. As he tried to run away his legs tangled in something soft on the ground, which sent him sprawling. As he desperately tried to kick his way free the titan gave a sudden and familiar jerk, before falling over into a pile a steam.

 

He let out a gasp of relief, Hange or Levi must have taken out the thing. He proceeded to untangle himself from what looked to be the titan’s legs. _But that makes no sense. If it lost it‘s legs here, I should have seen it. We don’t have the means to cause that kind of damage._

 

He took a few deep breathes and felt the adrenaline fade. _It probably happened when I got concussed_ The logical explanation for his troubled movement and difficult mental state _. And obviously we_ do _have the means, I just need to ask someone what the are._

 

“Armin! Armin can you even hear me?”

 

Eren was still calling out, it seemed _. It must have been horrible seeing that titan grab me, after what happened in Trost and Shiganshina. Thank god I escaped_ How did he escape? His memory seemed a bit fuzzy on that detail.  He started to tell Eren he was fine, but his voice was drowned out again by a titan’s cry.

 

_There’s two of them?_ Adrenaline surged through his body as he swung his head, trying to find the enemy, but he couldn’t spot a thing. And all he could hear was Sasha laughing. _Why on Earth is she laughing?_

 

“Dammit Armin, look down!”

 

He did and felt his world tip sideways. It was Eren, but...how could Eren be that _small_. He gently brushed Eren’s head with his finger, as if confirming that what he was seeing was real. It felt soft in a way Armin didn’t usually associate with Eren. The doll-sized boy smiled at him, a look that might had been adorable if it weren’t for the blood caked around his mouth. A quick glance confirmed his right hand was a mess. “Don’t worry he recognizes me!” Eren waved back to the other 104th members as well as the rest of the Survey Corps stationed at the house.

 

_They all look small. Eren’s got enough weird stuff happen to him that it almost makes sense, but everyone else? Impossible. But if they're not small then...I’m...big…_

 

“I think he just figured it out,” Connie stated, confirming the horrible conclusion Armin had just drawn.

 

He glanced down for confirmation. The proportions of his arms and legs seemed correct, but his uniform was gone. Leaving nothing to hide the genderless form of a titan  “No…”

 

At least that’s what he tried to say. What came out was more of a guttural moan. _It was me making all those titan noises, no wonder Sasha was laughing._ He sat down on the grass, holding his head in one hand. _How did this happen?_

 

“Hey Armin, is it okay if I come up.” Briefly Armin wondered how Eren was going to ‘come up’ without his 3DMG. The question must have been apparent on his face, because his best friend merely pointed to Armin’s own hand.

 

As gingerly as he could, Armin picked Eren up and held him to face level. “Hange killed the titan that attacked us. She and Levi are ready to cut you out. Some of the other Survey guys are a little nervous about having another Shifter-” A quick glance at those assembled confirmed that, although his own team looked strangely amused. Actually, Moblit and the rest of Hange’s team just had the look of people who saw a lot of paperwork in their future. “-but we all know you’re still you. Hange will figure this out.”

 

Armin felt something sharp stick into the side of his shoulder. He flinched a little at the slight tugging that followed and the downright odd sensation of someone walking on his shoulder.

 

“You need to put the other brat down, or he’ll fall when that body dissolves.”

 

Armin nodded, not wanting to hear his own voice. Eren put his hand to Armin’s nose “It’ll be okay”

 

_How long has Eren wished someone would say those words to him._ He wondered as he lowered his friend. He felt Levi move to the back of his neck. The 3DMG didn’t hurt when it lodged in my arm, hopefully this won’t hurt too much either.

 

Armin felt the swords in his neck and knew that hope wasn’t coming to pass. It was a sharp burning pain that spread throughout his entire body. His vision faded and all he could feel was a mixture of pain and intense heat. He struggled to breathe, lungs screaming for air and only pulling in some hot, humid, steam.   _Is this death? Did Levi just kill me instead?_

 

A sudden light lanced through his vision and cool, refreshing oxygen rushed in. He could see the musculature and connective tissue of the titan body (still not quite up to admitting it was _his_ titan body) even as it dissolved into steam around him. Strong arms grasped him and pulled him loose. The sharp pain of the dissolving body left him, a dull ache he could feel in every muscle replacing it.

 

“I’m loose?” Levi nodded. “And there are no more titans in the area?”

 

“If there were, I’d have been ordering you to attack them, brat,”

 

“Just making sure,” and with that confirmed, Armin did what he had wanted to do since discovering he was a titan - pass out.

 

~

 

Jean released a sigh of relief as he saw Levi with Armin under his arm. _Thank Goodness. I don’t know if we could have taken another loss._

_We could have,_ Marco answered _You would have gotten us through it._

 

_I wish I had your faith._

 

“This is wrong,” Mikasa stated, staring as Armin’s titan form slowly dissolved. Sasha put a comforting arm around the stoic girl’s shoulder. Connie was staring at the ground and taking deep breaths.

 

“I can’t believe there’s another one of those freaks,” someone muttered.

 

Almost as one, the 104th turned to the vetern Scouts.

 

“Who said that?” Jean growled.

 

“More importantly, how did a 15 meter class get this close without anyone noticing?” Attention focused on the corporal, but Jean’s eyes flitted over the squad who had been on watch. He couldn’t help a flicker of doubt that maybe it wasn’t as accidental as it seemed.

 

~

 

“Looks like your friends are being chewed out,” Hange said with a fond grin. She couldn’t quite hear what Levi was saying, but she knew that tone all too well.

 

“He’s going to be okay, right?” Eren’s attention was focused solely on his first friend. He had been unconscious when Levi brought him down.

 

“He should be fine,” Moblit volunteered, “Our report says you fell unconscious right after your first transformation as well”.

 

“I don’t remember that day very well,” Eren admitted. “I count on Armin to tell me what happened.”

 

“Not your sister?” Hange teased.

 

“She won’t tell me if something bad happens. Armin...takes the good and the bad. He won’t lie, not to me at least. He can mislead the enemy when he wants to though.”

 

“Honesty is important, no, _necessary_ to science. Just like misinformation is during war.” Hange grinned, “Still, this it worrying for another shifter to appear now. Five months ago, such a thing seemed impossible. Now we’re up to six.”

 

Eren blinked, “He didn’t know!” he insisted, “He wasn’t trying to hide it, like Ymir and **them**.”

 

“That was abundantly clear,” one of Hange’s other squad members - Thomas, Eren vaguely remembered - laughed.

 

“It’s not funny,” Eren growled.

 

“Better laughing at me than grabbing pitchforks,” Armin muttered.

 

“You’re awake!” both Eren and Hange leaned forward, smashing their heads together. Moblit sighed in a long-suffering tone. He gestured to his commander in a ‘see-what-I-have-to-work-with’ tone.

 

“Kind of wish I wasn’t,” Armin admitted, privately amused by the antics of Hange’s second in command. It took a special kind of person to join the Survey Corps, and a really special kind of person to work directly under Hange Zoe. “I hurt all over.”

 

“Dull, sharp, muscle, joints?” Hange fired, excited to have another perspective on titanhood.

 

“Um, dull and muscle I think,” Armin answered, trying not to focus on how he felt at the moment. “I don’t seem to be injured, I think it’s phantom pains from my other body dissolving.” Huh, he could think that now without panicking.

 

Hange looked gleeful. “What about you, Eren? Do you agree with Armin’s hypothosis?”

 

“I guess. I never really thought about, but Armin’s usually right.”

 

“Oh no, you can’t just take someone else’s word for it. That’s bad data. We can check next time you change.”

 

“I guess…” Eren wasn’t a scientist. To him it didn’t matter how things worked as long as they did. “Are you sure you’re okay?” Armin had always been more level headed than him, true. But he seemed to be taking this a little too well.

 

“Yeah. I was panicking earlier, but now I don’t feel anything.”

 

“Nothing?” Armin nodded. “I think you’re in emotional shock. How do we test this?” a chorus of moans followed this pronouncement, in all likelihood a built-in response to whenever Hange said the word ‘test’. “I know,” Hange grabbed Eren’s right hand and waved it in front of Armin’s face.  “Look what Eren did to himself.”

 

He had seen it being covered in blood before, but now up close he could see the thumb joint had been bitten clean off. Well, clean wasn’t the right word; it was a ragged mess. Normally he’d be horrified at that, especially since it was probably done on his behalf. However the numbness that seemed to fill him didn’t waver in the slightest. “You shouldn’t do that Eren.” he said, his voice completely calm.

 

“Yup, shock. Give it some time. When he starts screaming or crying, he’ll be fine. Now I have two cute little titan-shifters to play with.” She clapped her hands in glee. “Eren could - no, you’re still pretty hurt. Thomas, would help Armin. I want to give Armin the post-transformation checkup we usually give Eren, and all my equipment’s in the barn."

 

Thomas - What was his last name again? - leaned over and slipped an arm around the small blond’s waist. “Can you stand?” he asked gently.

 

“I think so,” Armin replied, though he had to lean on Thomas a lot to get to his feet. Everything felt so floaty. Eren came around the other side and supported him with his good arm. They made it to the barn, Moblit in tow and Hange bouncing ahead.

 

Once they entered, Hange closed the door, her manic grin fading away into the solemn face she’d worn since getting the news about Nick. She slid down the door pinching her nose between her fingers.

 

“Major…” Moblit looked concerned.

 

“I’m fine,” she waved him off. “In the long run this is probably a good thing. Twice the odds that one of them will be able to use the hardening ability. But the moment the government finds out… they barely tolerated _one_ titan-shifter,”

 

**Bang**

Hange leapt up as the door swung open,her fake smile plastered on her face until she saw who it was. The surly corporal marched in, followed by the rest of their team, Sasha closing the door behind them. “How’s the blond brat?” Levi inquired.

 

“I’m in shock,” Armin proclaimed, waving at his friends.

 

“Someone get a bucket,” Levi ordered. Moblit grabbed one that had been resting against the wall. “How did this happen?”

 

“When the human mind can’t handle some traumatic events, it blocks off some functions until-”

 

“Not the shock, four eyes, the shifting!” Levi snarled.

 

“That’s the question of the hour. My best guess is the same way as Eren. After all, they were often together as children, it wouldn’t have been too hard for Grisha Yeager to do the same thing to him.” Hange surmised.

 

“Impossible,” Armin declared in a sing-song voice.

 

_There’s something wrong with him_ Marco whispered in Jean’s ear. _You have to help him._

 

_It’s the shock, Marco. I went through the same thing when you…  Give him time to snap out of the initial effects._

_I hope you’re right, Jean._

 

“You may not remember, but since Yeager’s treatment does seem to leave memory blanks -”

 

Mikasa cut Hange off. “No. We know it’s impossible because Armin and I both tried to transform into titans while at the Survey Corps castle.”

 

“WHY?!” Connie cried out. Every eye in the barn turned in shock at the sudden outburst. “Even if you could, why would you even...what if you couldn't change back? What if became one of those monster like-.”

 

Historia put her arms around the panicking boy. “Was is someone you recognized?”

 

Connie’s breath hitched. “No, but… it could have been, you know.”

 

That seemed to break through the comfortable numb feeling Armin had been feeling ever since he had woken up. _It’s so easy to forget, all titan might have been human at one point. I could have ended up like the crawling titan._ His stomach twisted and his breathing became rapid. _I could have attacked them and Eren wouldn’t have been able to stop me. Levi could have, but would he have gotten to me before I’d killed anyone?_

 

“BUCKET!”

 

At Levi’s snapping command Moblit surged forward just as Armin evacuated that morning's breakfast in between broken sobs.

 

“We came to the same conclusion Hange-san did,” Mikasa spoke in her quiet tone, “that Dr. Yeager could have done the same to us. We used the same well she planned to use on Eren. Neither of us were able to change, nor did our injuries from then or afterwards heal any faster than a normal person.”

 

“Yeah but what if it was like when Eren went after **Annie** ,” Jean’s hesitant tone turned harsh at the name of the female titan-shifter. “He didn’t really want to change and couldn’t.” _No matter how much she deserved it._

 

_Jean, calm down. We don’t know for sure what happened. She may have just stumbled on me and took my gear._

It was an old argument between them _. Annie’s a killer and a traitor, Marco. She could have taken anyone’s gear. Why disturb a ‘friend’s’ body unless that was her plan to begin with._

 

“If we ch-hanged, we could h-help Eren,” Armin got out between dry heaves. “H-He wouldn’t have to be a-alone.”

 

“I was never alone.” Eren pulled the smaller boy closer, “I always had you and Mikasa.” Armin leaned into him and took a deep breath, calming himself enough to speak clearly.

 

“That’s not true. They separated us after the trial. We couldn’t visit you and even after we joined the Survey Corps we saw how they treated you like you were a monster.”

 

“They won’t treat you like that,” Eren promised.

 

“Too late for that.” Jean looked at the ground. “There were several jerks already making their opinion known back there. Idiots.”

 

“And a fat lot of help they were.” Connie snarled. His nerves were still feeling frayed. “They had their gear. They were supposed to be keeping a perimeter. But if Armin hadn’t..hadn’t...you know, it probably would have gotten most of us.”

 

Levi eyed the group, wondering if anybody would put it together.

 

“It could have killed, Eren. He was in less of a position to fight or run than we were.” Mikasa growled. Eren opened his mouth to rebuke his sister, but Armin cut him off.

 

“What if...that was the plan? What if it was lead to where we were training by someone with the intent of killing Eren and making it look like an accident?”

 

Most of the team were looking at the newest shifter with jaws agape. The two exceptions were Ackerman, who had clenched her fists, and Kirschstein, whose jaw was clenched, but the look on his face had read more of confirmation that shock. Good.

 

“He’s right,” Levi addressed his team. “People join the Survey Corps for three reasons. To fight for Humanity, to fight for the King, and revenge. Those who fight for revenge are, on the whole, less likely to see shifters as human rather than the monsters they hunt. Those who fight for the King,” Levi pulled a missive out of his jacket, “have great potential to be spies. The higher ups in the government and the Wall Cult want Eren, and we can assume Armin now, dead. Armin’s transformation today was useful in that it helped reveal those who are intolerant of shifters.

 

Erwin sent a warning with the information. The Central Military Police is heading to this location to silence Eren. While we’re evacuating everyone, we’re splitting into three groups. Hange’s team will join us in moving to a secondary location, where we’ll continue working on hardening. Those we believe trustworthy will be sent back to HQ, where they’ll receive further orders  Those whose loyalty is uncertain will be helping the garrison make sure Wall Rose is secure.”

 

_The King wouldn’t really do that, would he?_ Marco pleaded to Jean.  _He wouldn't send assassins to kill his own soldiers?_

 

_I don’t know, buddy. I never met the guy. It might be someone else in the government doing this under the King’s nose._

 

He felt Marco grin. _That’s true. If it was the King he wouldn’t need to bother with all the cloak and dagger stuff._ Jean wasn’t so sure about that, but decided not to say anything.

 

“What...they..do they think we’re prey?” Sasha growled. “Helpless and tasty little critters? I’ve been killing to survive practically since I could _walk_. We’ve faced more titans in a few months than the Military Police see in their lives and they think they can hunt **me**?!”

 

“Sasha please,” Connie put his hand on her shoulder. The girl relaxed slightly at his touch. “They can try. We won’t let them.”

 

“That’s right!” Historia had fire in her eyes. “I finally got a family who cares for me and I won’t let _anything_ take you away.”

 

Levi and Hange shared a look, one amused, one exasperated.

 

“We made a promised didn’t we?” Mikasa showed her bandaged finger.

 

Armin grinned at the bandage on his finger. It had come a bit loose from the steam and pressure of his other form, (he felt his stomach clench again) but still barely held. He removed the little bit that remained with his thumb. As he expected the skin was smooth, though it should have taken a few days at least for the cut to heal. As he replayed the previous night in his mind, he grinned.

 

Suddenly Armin jerked up straight. “Last night! Eren’s finger was healing almost instantly, but mine wasn’t.”

 

Connie shrugged, “Maybe the healing thing doesn’t activate until the first time you change.”

 

“Eren’s always healed faster than normal,” Armin insisted. “Remember when he clonked his head because of the faulty equipment for the 3DMG training. The medic said he’d need those bandages for a few days and he was fine by morning.”

 

“I remember,” Sasha giggled, “He was so embarrassed, it looked like he had steam…” she cut off in realization.

 

Jean facepalmed. “Are you telling me he’s had titan regeneration powers since we started training, probably before, and no one noticed?!"

 

Hange and Levi both had stricken looks, but neither we about what had happened in years prior. Instead their eyes trained on the bandages worn on the forefingers of the entire squad. “What happened last night?” Levi asked, his tone sending chills down their spines. Even Thomas and Moblit, who’d worked with Levi for years, backed away slightly.

 

“Blood brother’s oath.” If anyone was unaffected by Levi, it was Mikasa. “We all swore to be family.”

 

“Including Eren?” Levi pressed.

 

“Of course including Eren,” Jean snapped. “He’s one of us, he’s always been one of us. I don’t care-”

 

“Everyone take those bandages off **now**!”  Hange ordered, fear in her eyes.

 

Jean halted mid-tirade. “The bandages?” He asked, confused.

 

“No,” Armin whispered as the final piece clicked into place, "It couldn't be,"

 

“Bandages off now,” Levi barked.

  
Five bandages dropped to the floor, reveal five completely unmarked fingers. And five new titan-shifters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case anyone's wondering the reason Armin wasn't in as rough shape as Eren after his first change was because it didn't last as long and he didn't take a huge amount of damage.
> 
> And yes Eren's head is steaming in episode 3 the night after he hits it repeatedly. Caught it on the second watching and promptly freaked out about to everyone I know. 
> 
> Also I apparently cannot write Levi. I apologize for this.

**Author's Note:**

> My first story on AO3 ^.^
> 
> In my headcannon Eren is like a frothing bulldog in battle, but deeply insecure out of it as a result of being constantly dehumanized since Trost. It's enough to mess anyone up and Eren didn't exactly start on the most stable ground mentally.
> 
> And sometime during this Jean decided that all his thoughts are an ongoing dialog with Marco. Not sure where that came from


End file.
